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Pectin is a common, extremely complex and process sensitive polysaccharide in plant cell walls with many uses as an additive in the food and biomedical industry. Process induced chemical changes in pectin result in various effects on its functionality. An in-depth study is presented of the effects of thermal compared to HP/HT (high hydrostatic pressure combined with high temperature) processing on pectin nano-structure and characteristics. The results obtained emphasized the necessity of taking into account pectin association and conformation in solution when analyzing molecular weight changes. At a pH of 6.3, a decrease in molecular weight was observed for both thermal and HP/HT treated samples but with partially different reasons. While for the thermally treated samples the reduction in molecular weight was mostly due to pectin depolymerization for the HP/HT treated samples a significant effect was …